Lead:
Emperor Yu pointed out in the assembly that often referred to the group of ministers: "This family leads the generals of the Lower Jiang To assist the Han Room, and the heart is like a golden stone, and the true loyal subjects are also!" ”
- Book of the Later Han Dynasty, Vol. 15
This is a comment by Liu Xiu, the founding emperor of the Eastern Han Dynasty, in front of his courtiers during the grand imperial meeting, to his general Wang Chang, the Marquis of Shansang. Through this historical data, it is not difficult for us to see that Liu Xiu had a high evaluation of Wang Chang, and immediately after publishing this evaluation, he was named a general of Han Zhong, which shows the weight of grace.
But what will confuse future generations is that
In the seventh year of Jianwu, Liu Xiu actually worshiped Wang Chang as a general of Hengye, and it should be known that even Deng Yu, the head of the Twenty-Eight Generals of Yuntai, was not able to take this position!
What's more, Liu Xiu also made it "rank and general", which is simply described as that
The generals will stand and he will sit, and he will stand with the cats!
In the entire history of the Han Dynasty, the only people who have this ability above the court are Huo Guang and other powerful ministers. So why did Wang Chang, who was not a powerful nobleman, or a beggar, get such a favor, and what did he rely on? Combined with the analysis of historical data, there are three key points in this key point.
First, jiao bosheng to marry Liu Xiu
After Wang Mang avenged his brother in the last years, Wang Chang went into exile in various parts of Jiangxia, and had no choice but to make a living by begging. When the Green Forest Army revolted, the four thieves gathered in response, and Wang Chang, who was full of indignation, immediately joined the rebel army, was honored as a partial general with his battle achievements, and subsequently became the leader of the Xiajiang army.
In just three years, Wang Chang jumped from a beggar to a partial general, and in addition to his own strategic vision and ability to command and fight, his personality charm and true spirit were the keys.
In the army, Wang Chang was respected by most of the generals for his love of soldiers and people, and his reputation gradually passed into the ears of Liu Xiu's brother Liu Bosheng.
Liu Bosheng heard that Jiang Jun was in Yiqiu and said to Liu Xiu and others:
"I wish to see General Jiang Yixian and discuss important matters"
This was Liu Xiu's first close understanding of Wang Chang, and in the eyes of his most respected brother Liu Bosheng, Wang Chang was a virtuous general, which made Liu Xiu full of curiosity and became an innate condition for reusing Wang Chang in the future.
After Wang heard that Liu Bosheng was about to rise, he heard that The Han Zhi would rise, and without saying a word, he followed Liu Bosheng and Joined Forces with Liu Xiu. When he beheaded Zhen Fu, Liang Qiushi and others, his military achievements were remarkable, which impressed Liu Xiu, and after Liu Bosheng died at the hands of Emperor Gengshi, Wang Chang followed him with Liu Xiu as his honor, and was the elder of Liu Xiu's dynasty.
2. Know the Mandate of Heaven and be loyal to the Han Dynasty
Liu Xiu took it as his duty to restore the Great Han and unified the world by force, which was also the reason why he was given the title of Guangwu Emperor. Liu Xiu, who revived the Great Han, knew that excellent team members could help themselves to achieve fame more than a million troops, so they divided the people in the team into three classes:
First class for loyalty to oneself and not for selfish gain;
Second class is loyal to the Han room with outstanding ability;
The third class is those who are loyal to the imperial court, who regard it as their duty to do things for the people to do things for the world, or those who seek private interests.
Wang Chang was precisely the one who was loyal to himself and to the Han Dynasty, and who was invincible without seeking selfish interests, and such a person must be in Liu Xiu's heart
Superior characters
。
After the reunification of the world, what was most concerned about Emperor Jianwu was to show the purity of Han unification and manifest it as a merit in name. Compared with other generals, Wang Chang's role in this regard is particularly prominent.
In the name of a loyal Han, non-Han does not serve
。 After Emperor Gengshi succeeded to the throne, Wang Chang was most aware of the Mandate of Heaven and was loyal to the Han Dynasty, and was given the surname of Liu by Emperor Deng.
The second is the people's hearts in the army, and the generals in the army pay more respect to Wang Chang
。 In the second year of Jianwu, Wang Chang led a large army back to Liu Xiu's camp, and the generals in the army were overjoyed, and Liu Xiu made him a general of Han Zhong.
There is also a small episode in Wang Changgui Liu Xiu, when Wang Chang was made the King of Deng by Emperor Gengshi, in charge of all the affairs of Nanyang, and the emperor allowed him to reward and punish himself (including the power of life and death and the right to divide the title of emperor, at this time, the next king chang), who held the power of life and death. After the defeat of the First Emperor, Wang Chang, as a prince with strong military power and strength, could completely rely on tens of thousands of elite soldiers in his hands to march into the Central Plains and the Land of the Three Auxiliaries with his back to Nanyang and achieve imperial hegemony.
However, Wang Chang was indifferent, and for a long time devoted himself to defecting to the Jianwu Emperor Liu Xiu, when the Chimei army disturbed sanfu, and the Jianwu Emperor called emperor Zhongyuan, and Wang Chang, who was in Nanyang, was on the one hand ready to join Liu Xiu, on the other hand, he could not bear to abandon all parts of Nanyang, so he waited for the opportunity.
Coinciding with Liu Xiu's engagement with the Chimei army, the Jianwu Dynasty was in difficulty, Wang Chang immediately decided to send troops to open up the road, led the troops to transport grain to help Liu Xiu, and Wang Chang, who sent charcoal in the snow, made Liu Xiu admire, which led to Liu Xiu's greeting of Wang Chang, who was known as a group of ministers:
"This is a true loyal minister!"
Third, the art of war and invincible
Although Wang Chang was in the middle of the clouds, although liu Xiu's imperial heart technique was used, there was a suspicion of being used, but his own ability was also crucial. As a general, Wang Chang truly adhered to the way of being a general and demonstrated the style of a general.
First of all, on the reorganization of armaments and morale, in the whole Liu Xiu Dynasty, only Wang Chang was the most efficient and had the best results.
War is bound to be accompanied by defeat, and in the era of great strife in the last years of the Western Han Dynasty, the morale of the defeated army will continue to decline until the situation worsens, and the army will be unstable, and it will defect, which is an extremely unfavorable combat factor for the commander-in-chief, and a precursor to the demise for the supreme ruler.
Secondly, recruiting soldiers and training new recruits in the world of great strife is the top priority of the expansion of the strength of the princes, which is comparable to the gathering of strategists to set up a think tank.
Throughout Liu Xiu's dynasty, there were countless generals who led the troops to fight, and as many as dozens of generals who won the battle, but these people only led the soldiers to fight with outstanding talents, that is, they had excellent command and combat ability, in other words, they did not dare to fail, and if they failed, their morale was weakened and they were devastated. Because they do not have the ability to boost morale and reorganize the war, the only thing that boosts morale is the resounding name of always winning and being undefeated, so if they fail, they will be destroyed.
However, Wang Chang's arrival was undoubtedly a pity for Liu Xiu.
Emperor Jianwu, who was very familiar with his own generals, was well aware of the current situation of the army, so he hoped that Wang Chang would boost his morale and reorganize his soldiers and horses to prepare for another conquest. Combined with the analysis of historical materials, Wang Chang did indeed have such ability, and among the thousands of people in Kyushu at that time, Wang Chang was the most popular in terms of morale boosters.
For example: Wang Mang sent Yan You and Chen Mao to break through (Xia Jiang Bing). Often with Dan and Jie, he scattered into the River of Sorrows, robbed the bell and the dragon, and revived the crowd. The leading army fought with Jingzhou Mu in the Upper Tang Dynasty, and it was greatly broken.
- The Book of the Later Han Dynasty
It can be seen that Wang Chang has a complete response system to the defeated army. Recruit troops to buy horses to expand the number of soldiers, and at the same time gather the scattered soldiers and horses to do ideological work, and then attack the easy to attack the land, so as to boost morale. Then there was another great battle, and of course a sure battle, the purpose of which was to let the soldiers know that they were now stronger than before. This method of training troops to boost morale was first-rate at that time, and it should be known that Wang often had his own set of ways of coping with different war situations.
In addition to preparing for war and boosting morale, Wang Chang, who was born as a beggar, also commanded a set of battles, which could not be described as exquisite from the perspective of the application of tactics, and had a great sense of reading the art of war.
Can it not only boost morale and train troops for Liu Xiu, but also lead the troops to fight invincible, and also make a name for the orthodoxy of Liu Xiu's dynasty, can such a person not be valued by Liu Xiu? Therefore, when attacking Deng Feng and others in the south, Liu Xiu sent Wang Chang to lead the generals on a crusade, not to lead the troops but to lead the generals!
In the seventh year of Jianwu, the envoy held the seal book and worshiped Chang Chang as the great general of Hengye, and his rank was no longer with the generals.
Wang Chang, who conquered the four directions, successfully worshiped the great general Hengye and became a rare general in the history of the Han Dynasty, and also completed the gorgeous transformation from beggar to great general.
epilogue:
Those who can achieve the birth of a warrior and have a status above ten thousand people under one person without being coveted by the emperor, only the king is Chang'er! Those who can suppress the twenty-eight generals of the country from above the hall, only the king is Chang'er! The only one who can be so appreciated by Liu Xiu and not be jealous of the generals is Wang Chang'er! Wang Chang, the great general also.